The Final Goodbye
by Lotte-Bubbles
Summary: Massive Dark Of The Moon Spoilers. More Inside. If you're up for it please take a look.
1. The Begining Of Goodbye

This story contains Major Spoilers for Transformers Dark Of The Moon, Please only read on if you do not mind the spoilers OR you have seen it like myself.

There are no pairings technically, though what you choose to see is up to you as a read 100%.

I hope those of you who wish to read this enjoy it. Admitting it was written at 3-5 AM after seeing the movie so its very emotional and not planed.

_Chance to click back_

**Author:** TransformersLover95

**Date**: 29/06/2011

**Characters Directly mentioned:** Optimus, Ironhide, Sentinal,  
>Ratchet, Will Lennox(whose take on the deaths will be looked into later)<br>Jazz, Arcee, Que, Chromia, Sideswipe,Bumblebee,Jetfire.

**Overview: **After a battle to end all battles, Optimus and his crew must deal with the monumental loss of two more mechs,  
>one of which seemed far more invinable then even Prime. The aftermath of the Battle and those left to deal with the loss<p>

Optimus Prime had refused repairs, only, when he was sure that all his warriors and friends were safe, would he even contemplate letting the medic close to him, and that was only after a final goodbye was said.

In the chaos that had rained down so suddenly upon them no one had even had time to process the loss. One moment they were a strong team, Ironhide strong, and fearless in battle alongside Sideswipe, fighting, yet still passing on long learned wisdom to the younger fighters.

And then the traitor reared his ugly head, Sentinel Prime, Before any could react, before any could even fathom the Mech that had seen it all, done it all and survived it all had faded, the infected rounds hitting his spark, the long thought mystical disease spreading faster than even the tails of it described. One moment a friend had been among them, spark beating, damaged, but repairable, until one final shot delivered a wound not even the black mech could survive.

Yet, they hadn't been able to stop, and so, they'd rushed off into battle, to defend the home they had built with the humans, a troubled one and a difficult one, but a home none the less. And as they gathered up the remains of Que, the old inventor having stuck to his sparks need for peace until they end brutally executed at the hands of the Decepticons.

Optimus thought back to the last true contact he had had with his old friend, the rough vocals uttering an explanation "this isn't the silent treatment, trust me, we've seen it and this isn't it" a hard fist to his plating, words that his vocals hadn't caught and then the almost amused mutter of "he's pissed" before the mech had back away.

He replayed that memory, desperately trying to recall the words the mech had muttered, but he'd been unable to find them, he stayed like this for the long trip back to base, Que's remains respectfully gathered. He heard murmurs from Lennox, asking what was to be done in the case of Ironhide, Optimus spoke up, the first time in many days "We will collect every part of him, just as we would any other solder, he has given up more for this war than any other" the collection of mechs around him nodded.

The moment the plane landed they made a beeline for the sight of the mechs death; sparing no thought to the level of complexity they began gathering every particle of rust that had once been the long invincible mech.

They did nothing for two full days, until the mech they had once all been saved, protected and fought with was side by side with Que. None of the mechs said a word as the metal case sealed shut of the two cases. They were moved to a small underground room, barely big enough for the whole team, two such cases already lay there, one contained the body of Jazz, they had refused to allow the mech to be dumped with the Decepticons after the tragic battle of Mission City. The other contained the combined body of Arcee, fully combined into her large form, after losing two thirds of her spark and the trauma faced by her were too much and she passed after a month of pained living and agonising existence.

Jetfire would have been entombed beside him had the mechs wishes for his body to be used in order to aid Optimus in battle had not been fulfilled in full. The Primes trailer was back in one piece and as the two cases joined the others, Optimus pulled out the matrix, holding it over the two new cases it glowed bright, blinding the mechs in the room.

When the light died down there were glyphs imprinted onto the case, like they had with Jazz's.

The old black warriors name was carved at the top, along with the mechs last message from his spark to those left behind.

_Never one of you blame your selves, while I was not ready to join the matrix I am, though grudgingly at peace. I wait with all those who have fallen before me, in wait, for when the next among us Join the Well of Sparks. I pray that it be on their terms, and not at the hands of a Decepticon. Optimus do not feel guilt for not mourning me immediately after I extinguished, it was not possible, and to do so would have led to so many others joining me here. You will defeat them, you are strong, all of you. I am honoured to have worked with you in life, and wait being reunited in death. If my will has any say in this matter, not one more of you will fall in battle. _

_Till All Are One, Optimus, you are a True Prime._

The mechs had all found themselves stopped by the mechs final words; they were overwhelmed by the finality of it. They had spent two earth days, collecting his remains, but still it hadn't sunk in that the gruff, but loyal, trustworthy battle hardened warrior wasn't returning to them like he had after so many battles before.

None of them had the emotional power to read what Que's final words had been, they had all been far to close when the mech was destroyed, and far too close to the same fate, Bumblebee placed a hand into the case containing the inventor, his head rested over where the mechs chest lay and he vented heavily, unable to form anything.

They all left, one by one, until Prime was the only one left, each murmuring a spark wrenching goodbye each mech in turn. Optimus said a pray to Primus to guide Que safely into the well and regarded the case holding his oldest friend "I fear" he spoke aloud to the case "that you do not need a pray to safely enter the Well, you have done more than any could have dreamed of asking old friend, and I almost fear for those in peace in the well, for you have never enjoyed peace. I hope that you will meet Jazz, Arcee, and Que soon after joining, but I pray those we lost earlier, including the one femme who calmed your spark my friend. Chromia's presence after so many Vorns will do you good" he said, as if he were simply talking to the mech as normal.

His chest flared and the matrix pulled out from his chest twirling and glowing bright before reinterring his chest the voice of his old friend filled his audios one last time "_Optimus, you were right, the well is as real as I was, those who fought with us are here, including your femme my friend, I fear you have a long wait until you are due here, but do not fear it when it comes. Please, tell Bumblebee that he made me proud that day, every day before it and will, long into the future" _he felt the presence of his friend fill the entire base, and knew every mech had felt it. And then as soon as the mechs body had been lost, the presence was gone. But he knew, as did every other mech on his base he ventured that there was nothing to fear of the Well, there was only the fear of leaving those few left behind alone.

He walked out of the crypt and joined his mechs, High-grade had been passed around, Primus only knowing where Sideswipe had obtained such fuel was beyond all the mechs but none questioned it. With a silent raising of their cubes they all drank to friends lost in this battle, and all others before it.

_'Till All Are One'_ Though Prime as he raised his cube.

* * *

><p>Now the Reason Wheelie and Brains are NOT mentioned is because I wasn't 100% sure of their deaths, so I would hate to misinform people on wether or not they lived...will be edited when details are finalised.<p> 


	2. One Last Birthday Wish

It was Annabelle's fifth birthday, William Lennox watched as his daughter ran amongst the other children, acting completely normal and fine, he had spent more time then he'd thought possible trying to breach the subject with his daughter, and on a few occasions when he'd been talking about the death of his friend and guardian he had spotted a small feet running from behind the door way. He ended all conversations quickly and gone in hunt of his daughter, when he found her she was sitting playing on the floor quietly, one hand tightly gripping the neck lace she'd been given on her second birthday, it shone with a bizarre black colour and looked almost alive, the Autobot symbol was a half inch thick and hung on a heavy woven chair of the same black metal.

She never said anything, but he knew, deep down she had heard his words, He pulled himself from the past month and suddenly found he had drifted out for far longer than he first guessed, Annabelle had climbed into his lap and was soundly sleeping. A distant rumble woke the girl, and she sat up, craning her neck to see who was heading towards her. She had grown up with her black mech and the sporadic visit by one or many of his friends.

Will grabbed Annabelle before she could run down towards the approaching mechs "Bell, honey, you need to know" his daughter shocked him all the more by promptly speaking over the top of her dad.

"Daddy…I know Ironhides not coming home" she sniffed loudly tears beginning to form in her sky blue eyes "But Optimus needs this" she held out her necklace " I…I heard you on the phone, you" her voice broke as she tried and failed to hold it together, He held her close, rocking gently, he heard her mumble into his ear "you said that-that Optimus had nothing to bury" she sniffed loudly and pulled back wiping her nose and eyes "cause, cause they need to bury him, He's still here, with me, but Optimus needs to bury him so he can go home more than…than I need him" she started going off on a slight ramble.

She pulled away with sudden force and ran towards the arriving cars, they pulled up in front of the small girl, Optimus and William watched in amazement as the small newly turned five year old approached the large blue and red leader.

She has never gotten too close to any of the others unless she was in Ironhides hands, only trusting the black mech. But with no fear she approached the Prime, Optimus knelt down and offered a hand, with sure hands the still crying child lifted the shimmering black metal from around her neck and placed it into the Primes large hand.

Ratchet's optics flared as his scanners brushed over the metal **"Optimus, he submerge that metal in his spark for a year, it still radiates his spark signature"** the Medic murmured in Cybertronian to his friend. The significance of the act wasn't missed by any of the mechs present.

The mech nodded gently "Annabelle, I know why you have given me this, but a gift such as this, once given by a mech or a femme is something that I nor any one of my mechs could ever accept" the Prime placed the necklace back around the girls neck with care most wouldn't think possible "Ironhide has given you a symbol from our society that means he is giving you a promise, that his spark will never leave you, even if he must"

The girl wiped her eyes again, sniffling loudly, her parents had moved to stand behind her Optimus moved even closer to the girl, speaking in a tone only her ears would detect "Annabelle, I have known Ironhide my whole life, he only ever cared about two people in his long life enough to give them such a gift, the first was his spark mate, Chromia was a femme he literally shared sparks with, she died in our battle before the last, when you were only two and a half. She wore it to show others they were bonded"

"And the second?" the girl asked timidly.

"I am looking at her, one small girl that eased the pain he felt from her death" Annabelle's eye lit up a little with this "you helped him keep living through something that is known to kill us and not much holds that power over any one of us. Annabelle, you kept him alive for all these years after he lost his mate. No one can take that from you, nor can any of us take the symbol signifying that from you" he said a finger gently caressing the girls cheek and in an all too human gesture brushed the wild hair behind the girls ear.

Annabelle looked down around her neck, the other bots had not, out of respect tuned the gain on their audios to listen and her parents looked confused as to what the Prime had just told the small girl, she lifted it off from her neck and slid back the modern clip. She pulled out the chain and held the 5cm square Autobot symbol, there were glyphs layered over the imprint, Ironhides name on one side and her own translated on the other she had been told.

Gripping the pendant tightly to her chest in her small hands, more years falling she held out the chain, Primes hand dropped down and the woven metal was dropped into his palm "you still need a proper part of him to bury though, he told me…that, that unless a mechs body was buried and blessed by the matrix and the Prime or a high priest they couldn't go to the Well of all sparks in the matrix, he told me that it was your heaven" the little girl cried more freely now gripping tightly her last reminder of her mech "I…I'm not going to be why he can't go to heaven and be happy" she mumbled in the smallest most timid voice she had spoken in so far.

Optimus looked at the chain and slipped it into subspace, Ratchet bent down and handed Annabelle and her parents each a 2cm square data chip and three holoprojectors/dataplayers all the size of Sarah's palm "He left these with me, he felt like the grief had been becoming too much, they may be small but there are small parts of him, within each of those players, programing enhanced with direct spark energy. I am not sure if it will display a hologram or only audio. But what he has recorded and infused with spark energy will respond to your questions and can actively adapt…they are small pieces of him left in this world, they will only respond to your bio signatures…he made sure he wouldn't leave you until you died" the medic had not known his friend cared so very deeply for the small human family. And he was burying his mind into more complex work until he could deal with the pain that assaulted him every time he went to comm his old friend and received nothing but static

Sideswipe once quite at the back had moved quickly to the front of the group, mutterings of annoyance came from all mechs there, he grabbed the medics by the arm and sheared off a small section of metal from him. Optimus saw this, along with Ratchets thump of protest on the silver helm and handed a similar sized metal shard over. The young frontliner moved away, all eyes on him, when he returned he knelt down in front of the humans; on his palm were a chain and two rings.

"there is metal from all of us alive on earth, and even Hide…I found an old wound when I was recovering… he imbedded part of wrist though I'll never know how into my shoulder after one over energetic sparring session, I found it…just before we arrived. I went to each mech, pulling a piece from the same spot and melted them down and formed these" he held the chain out to Annabelle and the rings to her parents.

"Sideswipe, the glyphs?" asked Sarah as she slipped it over her wedding ring, the two melded perfectly and as the metals connected the dark Cybertronian metal seemed to melt and flow around her original ring melding into the metal. The glyphs could now be seen woven around the ring.

"They are each of our names, and a promise to protect you from all we can, and to above else never abandon anyone of you" William watched in awe as his own ring did the same, Sarah threaded Annabelle's pendant back on and as it settled around her neck the metal fused fully, into a solid but liquid state.

"How are they…" she pointed at Belles necklace.

The mech grimly smiled "our nanites in the metal are alive, I gave them basic programing. Stay solid, but liquid enough to move in the case of your daughter, and the programing to form the glyphs in your own" the frontliner dipped his head and moved to the back of the crowd.

Annabelle looked at her pendent and murmured to herself though all could hear "I was gonna ask for you to come home for my birthday Hidey, but now I want you to go to your home" the five year old didn't wipe away the next tears that fell, she just buried her head into her father's shoulder and wept.

Tears were shed by all, tears of pain, of loss, of grief. And tears of joy, from memories shared and moments remembered.


End file.
